Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy Chapter 850

Chapter 850

Yi-Han, who immediately regained his composure, cleared his throat as if embarrassed.

He had almost tormented an innocent person because of his hatred for Baldurguard.

"Senior. What should we do? I think we can check it out."

"Yes. Let's do that."

'Senior?'

Garal wondered inwardly.

If what the Wardanaz family boy said was true, it meant Sebius was 6th year or above.

Of course, Einroguard students theoretically could stay at school indefinitely if they couldn't graduate, but Sebius didn't look like...?

"Wait. I cast a spell. Don't open the front door right away, check the snowflake pattern engraved above. You need to find the exact same pattern as this one to deactivate it."

"Why did you put a barrier spell?"

"It's not for defense, but because Baldurguard students kept getting lost in the town. If you touch that, it makes a loud noise. Then they can find their way even from afar."

"..."

While Sebius was making a complicated expression, Yi-Han said in a slightly apologetic voice.

"Um, Mr. Garal."

"What is it?"

"Actually, I already broke that spell you just mentioned. I thought it was a spell to call Death Knights."

"...What? How?"

Garal was flustered.

The spell he had just mentioned was a barrier spell developed by the Northern Snowflake Magic Tower, which wasn't easy to deactivate without knowing the exact snowflake pattern set by the mage.

"I broke it with force."

"...??!"

"Don't be too surprised. The junior here learned arcane magic from a great illusion mage."

"Ah. Do you mean Master Ogonin?"

"No. It's Master Baldoorn..."

"???"

Garal became even more confused at the unfamiliar mage's name.

"The chat has gone on too long. Let's go in."

'Who is that?'

"Yes."

Sebius ordered in a stern attitude as if he wouldn't allow any more conversation.

It was amateur behavior to let one's guard down during relocation just because things were going well.

Creak-

Garal was right.

There was already no sign of people on the first floor of the mansion. The <Backpack of Six Directions> was even blatantly placed alone on the table, making it feel like a trap.

"Check for magic."

"There's none."

"Alright. Then..."

Just as the two were about to grab the backpack, Zandanni came down the stairs from the upper floor, yawning.

"Oh. You're back? I actually had something to ask..."

"..."

"..."

Yi-Han and Sebius exchanged glances.

"Don't move. Put down your staff."

"H-how..."

"Every barrier has a weakness."

"N-no. That's not it. How do I put down my staff without moving..."

"...I'll take it from you."

  *

Zandanni, who was suddenly kidnapped along with Garal, was forcibly seated in an armchair in front of the fireplace with a dumbfounded expression.

Garal sighed deeply and asked.

"Why did you wake up at this hour instead of just sleeping?"

"I was about to sleep, but suddenly remembered what you said earlier."

"What?"

"You asked if I wasn't curious about why the 6th space here is locked, didn't you?"

"...So don't tell me, you woke up and came down at this hour to try and open it?"

"Yes."

Garal was surprised.

And so were Sebius and Yi-Han.

"You're lying."

"Don't lie. You woke up craving the wine you left unfinished, didn't you?"

"B-both of you are too much."

Garal, still being the employer, tried to protect Zandanni from the Einroguard students' criticism.

"More importantly, what do you mean by 6th space? What are you talking about?"

"Ah. You don't know yet. This bag is unique among space expansion items..."

"Could it be that instead of inflating or expanding the space, it's an item that creates and connects a separate subspace? That's amazing."

"..."

Garal was shocked by Yi-Han's perception before he could even explain, and asked.

Even he hadn't noticed until he touched it directly.

"Did you know about it already?"

"No. I just realized it now."

"I... I see."

Garal tried to calm his surprised heart. Zandanni, who was beside him, asked curiously, not knowing what was so great.

"What's the matter?"

"...It's nothing."

Suppressing the urge to give him a smack, Garal began to explain properly.

Six spaces and the last locked space.

Yi-Han and Sebius even added the true past for Zandanni's benefit.

"...And so, our senior was caught!"

"That's... terrible...!"

Zandanni blinked as if shocked by the shocking true past.

"Do you understand? How cruel, mean, and vile it was to steal this bag?"

"But... why did the principal take him away for going out?"

Even amid the shock, Zandanni raised an obvious question.

Yi-Han was at a loss for words.

"...That's not important right now. Each imperial magic school has its own rules, right?"

"That's right."

Garal chimed in, unable to watch any longer.

He was worried about Zandanni constantly provoking the students of the most unfortunate magic school in the empire.

However, unaware of such concerns, Zandanni launched an additional provocation.

"And... there could have been a misunderstanding, right?"

"What misunderstanding?"

"The two of them might have really been close, but Einroguard students didn't believe it and misunderstood..."

Yi-Han started laughing.

Sebius also started laughing.

They kept laughing. It seemed like they laughed for about ten minutes.

Garal cleared his throat with an embarrassed expression.

"Ahem."

"Ah. We're sorry."

"It was just too funny."

At their reaction, Zandanni cursed inwardly.

As expected, these Einroguard bastards were clearly barbaric and heartless, not knowing what friendship was.

"Hmph. Let's open the 6th space."

"What?"

"The locked 6th space."

Zandanni shouted as if frustrated when Yi-Han didn't understand.

Of course, it wasn't that Yi-Han didn't understand.

"You're saying we should open it together now?"

Although Yi-Han and Sebius were raiders with legitimate right of entry, it wasn't a common thought to try to check the hidden space of the backpack together with those raiders.

"We're going to take this."

"Regardless of that, shouldn't a mage naturally be curious!"

At Zandanni's words, Garal was inwardly dumbfounded.

This guy who wasn't even curious until he mentioned it?

'But I am curious.'

Garal was also curious about why the student who made such a backpack had locked the 6th space.

It was certainly strange to create a space and then lock it, unless there was no space at all.

Moreover, if the Einroguard students took the backpack, there would be no chance to check it in the future, right?

"If you're opening it now, I'll help. Honestly, I'm curious too."

"Mr. Garal."

Yi-Han wavered slightly.

The advice of an experienced mage like Garal would certainly be helpful.

"I'll help too."

"What? You don't need to go that far..."

"..."

Zandanni glared at Yi-Han.

  *

The four mages gathered in front of the fireplace and began working.

"It seems the space has been twisted and tangled to block it. We need to unravel this."

"How about breaking it with mana?"

"That's a bit... The backpack might be destroyed."

At Garal's words, Zandanni, who was listening beside them, added.

"Above all, it's difficult to supply that much mana here. It really takes a lot of mana to break something like that."

Zandanni seemed pleased, thinking he had made a proper point. The other three exchanged complex gazes.

"...Then what method would be good?"

"Actually, if we could bypass it, that would be best."

Sebius, who had been listening, shook his head and answered.

"I tried inserting a space probe, but it seems impossible. It's thoroughly blocked. It looks like this kind of bypass was guarded against from the start."

When space is twisted, inevitably gaps are created.

If mana is flowed through those gaps, one could pass through the blocked space relatively easily, but the creator had blocked such gaps almost perfectly.

"In the end, we have to go head-on. If we just knew the pattern rule, we could solve it."

The twisted and tangled space was a kind of maze.

It would be best if they could bypass the maze itself and take a shortcut, but if that's not possible, they had to pass through the maze.

In this case, the rule of the space's shape acted as the map or solution to the maze.

If they just knew that, they could solve it right away...

"Did you perhaps hear anything else when you inherited this backpack?"

"I didn't hear anything."

'He's really not helpful.'

'He's really not helpful.'

"More than that, how about this method?"

Zandanni brought up a topic, unaware that the two were cursing inwardly.

Among gems, emerald had the effect of showing its owner a view containing truth.

To use a magic analogy, it had the property of breaking through various illusion magic and showing the right path.

Outstanding alchemists knew how to expand and use such properties of gems.

"Here. We send in a scarab made by processing emerald! It will restore the twisted and tangled space to its original state."

"..."

The three exchanged complex gazes once again.

In the end, Yi-Han took the lead.

"Um, Mr. Zandanni. As you know, this space maze is larger and more complex than you might think. One emerald scarab won't be enough."

Expensive gems were worth their price.

Just the emerald scarab alone restored twisted and tangled space to its original state without much impact on the surroundings, and that was certainly amazing.

But it wasn't enough to solve the entire maze.

"Moreover, it would be difficult to retrieve in such a maze. You might solve a little space and lose it forever."

"Ah. There's no need for that."

"...?"

Zandanni smiled as if he had been waiting. That smile contained the confidence befitting the top student of Baldurguard's alchemy lecture.

"This was made as a one-time consumable from the start."

"...What?"

Yi-Han couldn't believe his ears. Zandanni explained excitedly.

The emerald scarab processed to solve twisted and tangled space had the drawback of having a narrow range and being difficult to retrieve.

So Zandanni came up with a genius idea.

He processed the gem to evaporate after one use.

The range became much wider, and there was no need to retrieve it!

"..."

"..."

Yi-Han and Sebius stared at Zandanni with severely shocked faces, unable to continue speaking.

Zandanni was pleased, thinking the Einroguard students were amazed by his method.

'That... is worse than a magic criminal!'

While Yi-Han was shuddering inwardly, Zandanni fumbled out brooches, cufflinks, badges, etc. made of emerald.

The two Einroguard students broke out in cold sweat at the sight of him easily taking out gems as if Gainando was taking out hidden snacks.

"How about using everything here?"

"...Mr. Zandanni, you were from the alchemy school, right?"

"Yes. That's right."

"Do you perhaps use gems often?"

"How did you know? Gems are my specialty."

Zandanni excitedly explained the beautiful simplicity of solving problems by throwing in a few gems, without needing to memorize complicated and difficult ingredients and processes.

Why memorize things like juniper and perilla leaves?

Just throw in one chrysocolla and you're done!

Of course, the cost was much higher, but that wasn't something a mage should worry about.

Sebius unconsciously comforted his junior. That's how distorted Yi-Han's face was.

"Calm down. That method must have drawbacks too."

"What drawbacks? The drawback of being happy? The drawback of having spare time and being relaxed? The drawback of sleeping early and waking early to enjoy life?"

"..."